Ironman 70.3 Muncie - Triathlon

The swim venue was very nice. The wetsuit was an unexpected bonus as the temperatures had dropped in the week before the race. The swim still felt challenging for me. We caught a lot of waves ahead, as there seemed to be a large number of novice swimmers who were backstroking, breast stroking, and just floating in the water. After the turn, there were a large number of boats, so the water smelled of gas.

Keep working on the swim.

Wetsuit strippers were great. I still need to get this faster. It was a long run, maybe a quarter mile, up from the beach.

I am going to stop using gloves at this distance. I also need to find a better way to handle gels than to stick them in the back of my tri suit.

US 35 felt like a drag strip. I feel like I'm moving good on the bike, but it was my relatively slowest event. I need to figure out how to get faster. There were lots of riders on the 2 loop course, with the course officials going by constantly. They seemed to be giving out lots of penalties. It would have been easy to get one inadvertently. When I started my first loop on 35, the pros were going by.

Keep pushing and working on getting faster.

This transition felt better. I got my socks on faster this time. I had the volunteers apply sunscreen since the sun had started to come out. I missed the portajohns in T2 and had to wait until the first run aid station to use one.

Practice. I may try to run without socks.

This run was much better than Rev3, but the hills were tough. I took water and ice from most of the aid stations, which were quite plentiful. I did need to walk a bit during the last 2 miles on the hills. The volunteers were awesome and encouraging. The spectators were great on the last hill and helped me to the finish.

While the run went well, I still feel like I leave some time on the course. I need to be able to run the complete 13.1 miles. It felt good again at the start, but not as good on the second half.

Found family. This is the first race that my parents have seen. I ate the post-race food and rested until my wife finished.


Experience and practice at this distance. The hills on the run.


Ironman puts on a great race. The volunteers were absolutely great. There were plenty of aid stations on the bike and the run. My only criticism is the road conditions, which are simply terrible throughout the midwest. This race was really well run.